Split a string according to a regexp in VBScript - regex

Question

I would like to split a string into an array according to a regular expression similar to what can be done with preg_split in PHP or VBScript Split function but with a regex in place of delimiter.
Using VBScript Regexp object, I can execute a regex but it returns the matches (so I get a collection of my splitters... that's not what I want)
Is there a way to do so ?
Thank you

Answer 1

If you can reserve a special delimiter string, i.e. a string that you can choose that will never be a part of the real input string (perhaps something like "###"), then you can use regex replacement to replace all matches of your pattern to "###", and then split on "###".
Another possibility is to use a capturing group. If your delimiter regex is, say, \d+, then you search for (.*?)\d+, and then extract what the group captured in each match (see before and after on rubular.com).

Answer 2

You can alway use the returned array of matches as input to the split function. You split the original string using the first match - the first part of the string is the first split, then split the remainder of the string (minus the first part and the first match)... continue until done.

Answer 3

I wrote this for my use. Might be what you're looking for.
Function RegSplit(szPattern, szStr)
Dim oAl, oRe, oMatches
Set oRe = New RegExp
oRe.Pattern = "^(.*)(" & szPattern & ")(.*)$"
oRe.IgnoreCase = True
oRe.Global = True
Set oAl = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
Do
Set oMatches = oRe.Execute(szStr)
If oMatches.Count > 0 Then
oAl.Add oMatches(0).SubMatches(2)
szStr = oMatches(0).SubMatches(0)
Else
oAl.Add szStr
Exit Do
End If
Loop
oAl.Reverse
RegSplit = oAl.ToArray
End Function
'**************************************************************
Dim A
A = RegSplit("[,|;|#]", "bob,;joe;tony#bill")
WScript.Echo Join(A, vbCrLf)
Returns:
bob
joe
tony
bill

Answer 4

I think you can achieve this by using Execute to match on the required splitter string, but capturing all the preceding characters (after the previous match) as a group. Here is some code that could do what you want.
'// Function splits a string on matches
'// against a given string
Function SplitText(strInput,sFind)
Dim ArrOut()
'// Don't do anything if no string to be found
If len(sFind) = 0 then
redim ArrOut(0)
ArrOut(0) = strInput
SplitText = ArrOut
Exit Function
end If
'// Define regexp
Dim re
Set re = New RegExp
'// Pattern to be found - i.e. the given
'// match or the end of the string, preceded
'// by any number of characters
re.Pattern="(.*?)(?:" & sFind & "|$)"
re.IgnoreCase = True
re.Global = True
'// find all the matches >> match collection
Dim oMatches: Set oMatches = re.Execute( strInput )
'// Prepare to process
Dim oMatch
Dim ix
Dim iMax
'// Initialize the output array
iMax = oMatches.Count - 1
redim arrOut( iMax)
'// Process each match
For ix = 0 to iMax
'// get the match
Set oMatch = oMatches(ix)
'// Get the captured string that precedes the match
arrOut( ix ) = oMatch.SubMatches(0)
Next
Set re = nothing
'// Check if the last entry was empty - this
'// removes one entry if the string ended on a match
if arrOut(iMax) = "" then Redim Preserve ArrOut(iMax-1)
'// Return the processed output
SplitText = arrOut
End Function